{"id":316531,"date":"2025-11-30T14:08:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T14:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/316531\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T14:08:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T14:08:11","slug":"russell-and-verstappen-share-theories-on-uneventful-qatar-f1-sprint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/316531\/","title":{"rendered":"Russell and Verstappen share theories on “uneventful” Qatar F1 sprint"},"content":{"rendered":"

Formula 1 drivers had already warned on Friday that following other cars would be particularly difficult around the Losail International Circuit<\/a>, and that fear became reality on\u00a0Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 19-lap race featured very few overtaking moves, with even drivers in the midfield \u2013 including Oliver Bearman<\/a> \u2013 calling the sprint \u201cuneventful.\u201d It was backed up by Isack Hadjar<\/a>, who even compared Qatar to Monaco: \u201cIt’s\u00a0incredibly satisfying to drive in qualifying, just like Monaco is. In the race,\u00a0it’s\u00a0incredibly boring.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

FIA explains: Why DRS is not extended for the main race\u00a0<\/p>\n

George Russell<\/a> was one of the drivers who had already predicted this scenario beforehand, and who pleaded on Friday for a longer DRS zone to potentially create more overtaking. However, when asked by Autosport after the sprint whether that could still make the main race more interesting, he was sceptical.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t even get DRS one single lap,\u201d the Mercedes<\/a> driver said. \u201cSo\u00a0it\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0matter if it was three times the length or shorter. I\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0even get within DRS!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The FIA told this website that the DRS zone will not be extended for the grand prix. In theory, it would be possible, but there are several reasons not to do it. First, a longer DRS zone could create safety implications.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"George <\/p>\n

George Russell, Mercedes<\/p>\n

Photo by: Zak Mauger \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

In addition to that, the federation already sent the full DRS lengths for all F1 races to teams in February. No complaints were raised at the time,\u00a0and\u00a0the issue was only brought up again at the beginning of this race weekend \u2013 including during the drivers\u2019 briefing. The FIA is not keen on\u00a0making adjustments\u00a0during an event, partly because rebooting all systems carries risks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moreover, it is questionable whether extending the DRS would be the solution anyway. Russell notes that the main problem lies elsewhere: in following another car through the sequence of fast corners in Qatar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, when you go around a corner almost flat out with three high-speed corners before the straight, it\u2019s challenging to stay close,\u201d Russell added. The lack of heavy braking zones forms another issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then Turn 1,\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0braking,\u00a0let\u2019s\u00a0say, around 40 metres before the corner,\u00a0whereas\u00a0at other tracks\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0braking at 100 or 110 metres,” he said. “So\u00a0yeah,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0definitely one\u00a0of the best tracks on the whole calendar to drive. Overtaking?\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0one of the toughest.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The current ground-effect cars come alive in all these high-speed corners, making it enjoyable for drivers, but the very same layout makes following almost impossible\u00a0\u2013\u00a0especially with this year\u2019s cars and dirty air becoming more of a problem again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lando Norris<\/a> shares the same view. \u201cAt this track it\u2019s almost impossible to follow,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you get within three seconds of a car ahead,\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0already starting to struggle.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Max <\/p>\n

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing<\/p>\n

Photo by: Jayce Illman \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Verstappen points to combination of factors\u00a0<\/p>\n

Max Verstappen<\/a> adds that the lack of excitement is also related to the extreme loads on the Pirelli tyres.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of\u00a0grip\u00a0everywhere,\u00a0and that means that everyone has good traction out of the corners,\u201d he told Dutch media in the paddock.\u00a0\u201cBut the biggest problem is for sure that the left-front tyre just overheats and wears so much.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter three or four laps of following, that\u00a0left-front\u00a0is already gone and you can\u2019t stay close anymore. Plus,\u00a0in the last sector,\u00a0there are a lot of high-speed corners indeed, and the DRS zone\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0long enough. All of that together is a bit of the problem.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since nothing will change on Sunday, it\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0promise much for the main race of the weekend. However, Verstappen\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0want to be too negative just yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, you never know what will happen, right?\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0always hard to say. A lot can still change around the pit stops, and\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0limited on the number of laps per tyre set as well. So, if you stop a bit too early and a safety car comes out, then the race can still turn around. So yeah, you\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0say now that it will be as boring on Sunday as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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– The Autosport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Formula 1 drivers had already warned on Friday that following other cars would be particularly difficult around the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,3024,138772,1885,1881,138650,2190,140984,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-316531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-george-russell","14":"tag-losail-international-circuit","15":"tag-max-verstappen","16":"tag-mercedes","17":"tag-qatar-gp","18":"tag-red-bull-racing","19":"tag-russell-and-verstappen-share-theories-on-uneventful-qatar-f1-sprint","20":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}